The Idiot's Lantern
by ponylkb
Summary: In 1950's London, the police are hunting down strange, mute creatures. The people of Britain gather around their new-fangled "tele-vision" sets to celebrate the new Queen's coronation - but is something affecting the signal? A hungry creature lies in wait in the Idiot's Lantern.
1. Chapter 1

It was a dark and stormy night as rain lashed down on the terraced houses whilst thunder rumbled overhead. Inside Magpie's electronics shop Mr Magpie, a tired and worn grey haired man was going over his accounts whilst one of the televisions in his shop ran the day's programming.

"So tune in again next week for more on the what's my line team," The broadcaster, a well spoken middle aged woman, said. "And that brings us to the end of programming for today so from all of us here at Alexandra Palace a very good night" She said before the program finished and the television went blank.  
"Two hundred pounds overdrawn" Magpie said to himself as he tore the piece of paper he'd been using for his sums out of the notebook and crumpled it. "I need a miracle" He said as he threw it into the nearby bin.

Just down the street in one of the identical terraced houses a teenaged boy was reading a magazine whilst his mother sewed on her machine and his grandmother knitted as the radio played.

"He's a caution that one, he does make me laugh" The boy's mother said about the radio broadcaster just as her husband, a plump black haired man with a moustache who had a lot of medals pinned to his jacket, walked into the room.

"Oh our lord and master" The boy's grandmother said sarcastically as he entered the room.

"Rita I'm off out" The man said to his wife as he straightened his tie, ignoring his mother in law.

"Dad?" The boy asked, showing his father the advertisement for a television he'd been looking at for some time.

"Oh how many times son? We'll see" The man told him, looking down at where his son was sat on the sofa in front of him.  
"But everyone's getting a telly dad, even Mr Galliger and the Bells at number sixty seven" The boy complained as he turned back to his magazine.

"Well perhaps we'll get one for the coronation" His father told him. The boy looked back at him excitedly. "If your lucky we'll see" His father added with a quick ruffle of his son's hair. "Don't wait up" The man then told his wife as he grabbed his hat and walking stick before heading out of the house.

"I heard they rot your brains, rot them into soup and your brain comes pouring out of your ears, that's what television does" The boy's grandmother told him jokingly.

Outside the storm was getting worse and lightning forked down from the sky as the boy's father walked through the rain, walking past Magpie's electronics store on his way just as a red bolt of light struck the store's television aerial. Inside the store Magpie had fallen asleep at his counter and did not see the television that had been left on standby suddenly switch back on to show the same woman broadcaster as before.  
"Mr Magpie? Oh Mr Magpie?" She called as Magpie slowly reacted to the sound and woke up. "Oh oh can you hear me Magpie?" The woman asked.

"Yes?" He replied as he turned to the noise and looked confused when he saw no one there. "I must have been dreaming" He said.  
"Oh no this isn't a dream" The woman told him.  
"I'm going doolally then?" Mr Magpie said when he realised it had been the woman on the television calling them.

"Not at all sweetheart now are you sitting comfortably? Good then we'll begin" She said. Bolts of red electric shot out of the screen and wrapped around Magpie's face before it seemed to pull and stretch it towards it. The woman started laughing and Magpie grunted and yelled in pain.

Stepping out of the Tardis Rose smoothed down her bright pink poodle skirt that she wearing with matching high heels and light blue jacket with her hair held up by a pink headband.

"I thought we'd be going for the Vegas era? You know the white flares and the chest hair" She said over her shoulder.

"You are kidding aren't you?" The Doctor replied as poked his head around the open door. He'd stayed in his suit but had slicked back his hair in the fifty's style. "You wanna see Elvis you go for the late fifties, time before burgers, when they called it a pelvis and you still had a waist" He told her as he disappeared back into the ship. "What's more you see them in style" He added as the sound of an engine was heard. A moment later the Doctor left the Tardis on a dark blue scooter, wearing a white helmet and sunglasses with a pink helmet for Rose hanging on the handlebars. Rose laughed as he circled around her.  
"You have a scooter?" She chuckled in surprise.  
"Oh I have a whole garage" The Doctor replied as he pulled up just as another much more powerful and louder engine was heard coming from the Tardis. Peter pulled a wheelie as he roared out of the ship on a huge black motorbike. Wearing a white shirt under a black leather jacket with jeans that had rolled up cuffs and sneakers he had a black helmet on that had a clear visor which dropped down to his nose with reflective aviator shades on underneath it.

"A Black Shadow! He has a vintage Black Shadow!" He called enthusiastically as he lifted up the visor and turned to them. "Do you know how rare these bikes are!?" He added, indicating the bike he was sat on.

"Never had you for a petrol head?" Rose asked.

"Well when Humans get it right they get it right!" He replied with a broad grin.

"So?" The Doctor then asked Rose. "You going my way doll?" He asked her in an American accent.

"Is there any other way to do dadeo? Straight from the fringe rad!" She replied, also in an American accent, as she took out a pair of pink sunglasses from her jacket pocket before heading over to the Doctor's scooter.

"Ah! You speak the lingo?" The Doctor asked as he handed her helmet over.  
"Yeah well me mum and Cliff Richard movies every bank holiday Monday" Rose replied as she put it on and climbed on the scooter behind him.

"Oh Cliff, I knew you mother would be a Cliff fan" The Doctor said with a sigh. Rose took hold of the Doctor's waist as he revved up the scooter and set off whilst Peter dropped his visor back down and kicked the Black Shadow off after them.

"Where we off to?" Rose shouted to the Doctor above the noise of the engines.

"Ed Sullivan's TV studio Elvis did Hound Dog on one of the shows, there were lots of complaints, bit of luck we'll just catch it" He replied.

"And that would be TV studios in what? New York?" Peter called over as he rode the Black Shadow besides them.

"That's the one!" The Doctor replied just as a double decker red bus drove passed on a crossroad in front of them. Stopping to let it past they all looked their surroundings for the first time. They had arrived in a suburb of terraced house which had red blue and white banners hanging between them along with Union Flags all over the street. Rose and Peter laughed as they realised the Doctor's mistake whilst the Doctor's grin dropped in disappointment.

"Digging that New York vibe" Peter chuckled.

"Well this still could be New York I mean this looks very New York to me, Londoney New York mind but," The Doctor said.

"What are all the flags for?" Rose asked, spotting all the patriotic decoration.

Inside one of the houses in the street the Doctor, Rose and Peter were on, the boy his mother and father were all watching their new television.

"Smashing! Smashing ain't it?" The father said as he stood up and turned down the volume. "You'd have thought they was in the room with you! Hey?" He said as he looked down at his wife and son, who were both sitting on the sofa quietly. "Fair do's Tommy you had a point, new television" He told his son. But Tommy was looking upwards at the ceiling. "There that should cheer you up a bit Rita? Give us a smile then hey?" Tommy's father then asked his wife.

"I can't, nothings the same any more not with her," Rita replied, sounding scared and upset.

"Stop going on about it" Her husband told her.  
"But her face Eddie, what happened to her? That awful face" Rita said.

"I said stop it!" Eddie suddenly shouted. A tapping noise suddenly sounded from upstairs.

"She's awake, I think she's hungry?" Rita said quietly.

Outside on the street Magpie was making a delivery of a television to one of the streets residents.

out of his van.

"There you go sir! All wired up for the great occasion" He said to the man enthusiastically as the man's sons carried it into their house.

"Great occasion? What'd you mean?" The Doctor asked as he walked past with Rose and Peter as they all took off their sunglasses. Having just parked the scooter and Black Shadow nearby along with their helmets they had noticed the delivery and gone to find out what the commotion was about.

"Where you been living? Out in the colonies?" Magpie asked him as he closed the black doors of his van. "Coronation of course" He added.

"What coronation's that then?" The Doctor asked.

"What'd you mean?" Magpie asked, sounding confused. "The coronation" He said, making it sound obvious.

"It's the Queen's, Queen Elizabeth" Peter told the Doctor as he and Rose waited for him to realise when they were.  
"Oh! Oh is this 1953?" The Doctor asked.

"Last time I looked, time for a lovely bit of pomp and circumstance, it's what we do best" Magpie said with a smile.

"Look at all the TV aerials? Looks like everyone's got one" Rose said as she looked around the houses. "That's weird my nan said tellies were so rare they all had to pile into one house" She added.

"Not around here love, Magpie's marvellous tellies only five quid a pop" Magpie told her and Peter whilst the Doctor walked up the street a little.

"Oh but this is a brilliant year! Classic! Technicolour! Everest climbed! Everything off the rations! A nation throwing off the shackles of war and look forward to a happier and brighter future!" He said as he came back over to them, saying the last part in a posh old fashioned British accent.

"Someone help me please! Ted!" A woman's voice shouted as the front door of a house was flung open halfway up the street. Two large men in suits were dragging a man draped in a sack into a waiting black car where a third, more skinnier man was waiting. "Leave him alone! That's my husband!" The man's wife shouted as she appeared in the doorway. The Doctor, Rose and Peter immediately ran over to the commotion.

"What's going on?" The Doctor asked the skinnier man seriously as the draped man was bundled into the back seat of the car. Tommy, his house opposite the commotion, had also come running up.

"Oi what are you doing!?" He shouted as he ran from his house whilst his mother stood at the open doorway.

"Police business now got out the way sir" The skinnier man ordered the Doctor.  
"Who'd they'd take? Do you know him?" Peter asked Tommy.

"Must be Mr Galliger" Tommy replied as the men all climbed into the car before it started to move away, leaving Mr Galliger's wife crying at her doorstep. "It's happening all over the place, they're turning into monsters" Tommy added just as his father had strode out of his house.

"Tommy! Not one word! Get inside now!" Eddie shouted to his son.

"I'm sorry I better do as he says" Tommy quickly told the Doctor, Rose and Peter before returning to his house.  
"Come on" The Doctor told his companions as they rushed to their transports. Throwing back on their sunglasses and helmets they quickly kicked the scooter and Black Shadow into life and raced off after the car.


	2. Chapter 2

The black car skidded around the street's corner and towards what looked like a set of locked steel doors.  
"Operation market stall go go go!" The lead man in the car ordered through a built in telephone. The doors in front of the car swung open, allowing the car to pass through into the area behind without slowing down, before they shut again as a two men pushed a portable market stall in front of them. The Doctor, Rose and Peter rounded the street corner a moment later. Seeing the dead end and the market traders the Doctor and Peter skidded sharply to a halt.  
"Lost em, how'd they get away from us?" The Doctor said, sounding surprised.

"Surprised they didn't turn back and arrest you two for reckless driving! Have you even passed you tests?" Rose asked him and Peter.

"Yeah with UNIT, they were never conservative" Peter replied.

"Men in black? Vanishing police cars? This is Churchill's England not Stalin's Russia" The Doctor said, sounding confused.

"Monsters that boy said" Peter told him.

"Maybe we should go an ask the neighbours?" Rose suggested.

"That's what I like about you Rose, the domestic approach" The Doctor told her.

"Thank you" Rose replied sounding smug. "Hold on? Was that an insult?" She asked after a moment but failed to get an answer as the Doctor and Peter swung the scooter and Black Shadow back around and raced off towards the street.

In Magpie's store Magpie was stood facing the many television screens.

"I've finished it as you instructed" He said as he placed a portable television on top of one of the televisions as the screen in front of him changed to show the woman.

"That's awfully good of you Mr Magpie" She told him.  
"So you'll go soon? Leave me?" He asked her.

"We'll see if your a very good boy" She replied softly.

"Please, your burning me, inside, behind my eyes, it hurts, even my memories hurt, I just want things back like they use to be" Magpie pleaded as he clutched the sides of his head.

"Oh but this world of yours is busy busy busy forging ahead into a brand new age, you can never go back that's your tragedy" The woman told him. "But now the time is almost ripe Magpie, cometh the hour cometh the man" She said with a slight chuckle. "Or lady" She corrected herself with a broad smile.

Tommy nervously came into his house's hallway and looked up the stairs for a moment before beginning to climb them. When he was halfway up the tapping noises of his grandmother banging of the floor rang out. Carrying on up he reached on the off the doors on the landing and took out a key from his pocket.

"Gran? Gran it's me it's Tommy" He called softly. "I'm gonna come in gran, stand back" He added, unaware his father had followed him up the stairs. "Just don't, I'm sorry but I've got to come in" Tommy added as he prepared to unlock the door.

"What do you think your doing?" Eddie growled at his son. Tommy jumped and wheeled round to face him.  
"We've gotta try and help her dad" He told him.  
"Give me that key" Eddie ordered. "I said give me that key right now" He ordered again when Tommy hesitated. After a moment Tommy reluctantly moved away from the door and handed him the key which Eddie snatched back and pocketed. "Don't think I've finished with you" He snarled at him.

Taking Tommy back downstairs to the lounge where Rita was Eddie prepared to deal with the incident. "All the warnings I've given you and every time! Every time! You disobey me!" He hissed at Tommy.

"We can't just lock her away" Tommy replied.  
"Excuse me sunshine I am talking" Eddie told him. "You can forget that college nonsense! Your gonna come and work alongside me! Get your hands dirty for once!" He added whilst Rita stood behind him, powerless to do or say anything in Tommy's defence. Tommy's gran began tapping the floor again.  
"Oh lord won't she ever stop?" Rita prayed, sounding scared.

"There there Rita my sweet business as usual, now let's get these up all over the house in honour of her Majesty" Eddie told her softly, indicating the pile of bannered Union Jack flags curled up on the sofa.

"But Eddie what if she's dying?" Rita asked.

"I am talking!" Eddie suddenly shouted right in her face as Rita cowered in fear whilst Tommy glared at his father. "That's better, a little bit of hush" Eddie then said as the doorbell rang.

Opening the door Eddie was faced with the Doctor, Rose and Peter stood on his doorstep.  
"Hi" They all said simultaneously and cheerfully.

"Who are you then?" Eddie asked suspiciously as Tommy watched from the hallway.

"Let's see? Judging by the look of you, family man nice house decent wage therefore I represent Queen and country" The Doctor said as he flashed them his physic paper. "Just doing a little check of all the forthcoming Majesty's subjects before the great day, don't mind if we come in? Na didn't think you did thank you" He added quickly as he strode in as Rose and Peter followed. "Not bad, very nice very well kept" The Doctor said as they entered the lounge as Eddie and Tommy followed them in whilst Rita stood in the middle of the room. "I'd like to congratulate you Mrs?" The Doctor asked her as he and Peter came to stand in front of the fireplace whilst Rose perched down on an armchair's armrest.

"Connolly" She replied nervously.

"Now then Rita I can handle this" Eddie told her. "This gentleman is a proper representative" He added, obviously beaming at whoever he thought the Doctor was, as the Doctor winked and nodded his head at Rita.

"And this is Lieutenant Peter Argent part of her Majesty's private guard" The Doctor introduced as Peter stood to attention and gave a quick salute.

"Ah! Military man? I didn't recognised you out of uniform, I was a Corporal myself in the war, though I can't imagine you served in it? You look far too young" Eddie asked Peter, obviously not expecting the authority going on his greaser appearance.

"My rank stands regardless of appearance and of when it was earned Corporal Connolly and should be addressed in the correct manner?" Peter replied authoritatively, waiting for Eddie to acknowledge his higher rank.

"Oh of course Lieutenant I do apologise sir" Eddie quickly said as he jumped to attention and saluted.

"Better" Peter said as he nodded his head before catching the Doctor's eye as they fought off smirks.

"Would you like some tea?" Rita offered the Doctor, Rose and Peter quietly.  
"Not now," Eddie told her before they could reply. "Don't mind the wife she rattles on a bit" He told them through a large fake grin.  
"Well maybe she should rattle on a bit more I'm not convince your doing your patriotic duty" The Doctor told him. "Those flags? Why are they not flying?" He asked.

"There we are Rita, I told you, get to them up, Queen and country" Eddie ordered his wife.

"I'm sorry," Rita began to apologise but the Doctor held up his hand to stop her.

"Get it done, do it now" Eddie continued to order.

"Hold on a minute" The Doctor said to Eddie.  
"Like the gentleman said" Eddie carried on to his wife, eager to impress.

"Hold on a minute, you've got hands Mr Connolly? Two big hands so why's it your wife's job?" The Doctor asked him.

"It's housework isn't it" Eddie replied.  
"And that's a woman's job?" The Doctor asked.

"Course it is" Eddie told him.  
"Mr Connolly what gender is the Queen?" The Doctor asked him.  
"She's a female" He replied.

"And are you suggesting the Queen does the housework?" The Doctor asked as Tommy held back a smile.

"No! Not at all" Eddie insisted, worried he'd insulted his important guests.

"I hope not Corporal because her Majesty would not kindly to such a suggestion" Peter told him sharply. "And as I recall raising or putting up our flag is honour for her serving men, so get on with it" He ordered, indicating the flags.

"Right, yes sir, you'll be proud of use sir we'll have Union Jacks left right and centre" Eddie said proudly as he picked up the bundle and began putting them up in the corner wall of the room.

"Excuse me Mr Connolly hang on a minute?" Rose said as she stood up and turned round to face him, her hands on her hips. "Union Jacks?" She asked.

"Yes that's right isn't it?" Eddie asked as he looked back at her, his arms holding the flags up against the wall.

"That's the Union Flag, it's the Union Jack only when it's flown at sea" Rose told him as Tommy failed to keep his smile down whilst Rita looked less scared now.

"Oh I'm sorry I do apologise" Eddie quickly apologised to Rose.

"Well don't get it wrong again there's a good man now get to it" She ordered, grinning broadly as he did so before glancing back at the Doctor and Peter who both smirked.

"Right then! Nice and comfy at her Majesty's leisure" The Doctor said as he and Rose sat down on the sofa whilst Peter took the armchair next to the fireplace facing it.  
"Union flag?" The Doctor asked Rose quietly through his smile.  
"Mum went out with a sailor" She quietly replied.

"Oh I bet she did" The Doctor chuckled. "Anyway you already know Peter here but I'm the Doctor and this is Rose" He introduced to Rita and Tommy. "Any you are?" He asked Tommy.  
"Tommy" He replied quietly.  
"Well sit yourself down Tommy" The Doctor told him and he and Rose moved up along the sofa so he could sit between them. The Doctor also patted the armchair next to him for Rita to sit down. "Have a look at this," He then said, indicating the turned on television. "I love telly don't you?" He asked Tommy.

"I think it's brilliant" He replied.

"Good man" The Doctor said with a broad grin. "Keep working Mr C!" He called over his shoulder at Eddie who was stood in the corner of the room hanging up the flags. "Now why don't you tell me what's wrong?" The Doctor then asked Rita quietly.  
"Did you say you were a doctor?" She asked him nervously.

"Yes I am" He replied.

"Can you help her? Oh please can you help her Doctor?" She pleaded. Eddie was listening carefully what was being said.  
"Now then Rita I don't think the gentleman needs to know" He told her.

"Oh the gentleman does" The Doctor told him.

"Tell us what's wrong and we can help" Peter reassured as he, Rose and the Doctor leaned in closer towards Rita who began to start crying.

"It's all right, it's all right come here" Rose told her as she went over and tried to comfort her.  
"Hold on a minute" Eddie said, holding the flags limply in his hands. "Queen and country's one thing but this is my house!" He said firmly before he looked down at the flags he was holding. "What the? What the hell am I doing!?" He said as he tossed them to the floor and marched over and stood in front of the fireplace facing the Doctor who sat with his hand resting against his head.  
"Now you listen here Doctor! You may have fancy qualifications but what goes on under my roof is my business!" He told him, ignoring his wife's continued crying. "And I certainly do not need a jumped up little desk officer coming in ordering me about either!" He snapped at Peter as he turned to face him. Peter said nothing but held a calm and serious stare as if he was dealing with a child who was throwing a tantrum.

"A lot of people are being bundled..." The Doctor began to say.

"I am talking!" Eddie shouted at him as he turned back round.

"And I'm not listening!" The Doctor shouted as he suddenly stood up and went face to face with Eddie, who seemed quite shocked but his rage. "Now you Mr Connolly you are staring into a deep dark pit of trouble if you don't let me help so I'm ordering you sir! Tell me what's going on!" He ordered him. Eddie seemed incapable of replying but an answered promoted itself as Tommy's gran was heard knocking on the floor above.


	3. Chapter 3

Eddie looked scared at whatever the noise was but at the same time didn't look surprise by it.

"She won't stop, she never stops" He told the Doctor as the tapping continued.

"We started hearing stories, all round the place, people who've changed, families keeping it secret cause they were scared" Tommy then said. "Police started finding out, we don't know how no one does, they just turn up, come to the door and take them any time in the day or night" He added.

"Show me" The Doctor told him.

Taking them upstairs Tommy slowly opened the door of the darkened bedroom and peeped around it.  
"Gran? It's Tommy, it's all right gran I've brought help" He said as he opened the door fully. They could see the darkened silhouette of a woman against the light coming through the window from the street. But Peter could already see her clearly in the darkness and drew in a sharp intake of breath when he did.

"How bad is it?" The Doctor asked him quietly, knowing he could already see Tommy's gran as she walked towards them.

"I don't know but it's not good" Peter replied just as Tommy turned on the lights. All of the facial features of Tommy's gran were missing, all there was was a face of skin. Outside the police's black car had pulled up at Tommy's house.

"Her face is completely gone?" The Doctor said curiously as he looked at her more closely before starting to scan her brain with the Sonic Screwdriver. "Scarcely an electric impulse left, it's complete neuron shut down, she's just ticking over, it's like her brain's been wiped clean" He added.

"What are we going to do Doctor? We can't even feed her" Tommy asked as he and Rita stood behind him whilst Eddie watched from the doorway. Suddenly the sound of the front door being rammed opened rang out as the police officers barged into the house.

"We've got company" Peter said.

"They've come for her!" Rita gasped.  
"Quickly what was she doing before this happened? Where was she? Tell me quickly!? Think!" The Doctor urgently asked Tommy and Rita.

"I can't think! She never leaves the house! She was just..." Tommy began to reply just as the burly police officers reached the bedroom.

"Hold on a minute there are three important brilliant and complicated reasons why you should listen to me, one..." The Doctor began telling the first of the burly officers but was cut short as one of them punched him across the face.  
"Doctor!" Rose cried out as he crumpled to the floor unconsciously before she knelt besides him and tried to rouse him.  
"Hey stop!" Peter protested as he lunged forward as Tommy's gran had a sack thrown over her and the officers began taking her out of the room. But one of the burly officers grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and threw him quite violently against the wall and pinned him there in a choke hold whilst the other officer took Tommy's gran out of the room. After a few moments he released his grip, allowing Peter to breath again. He tried to lunge forward again but was stopped by a powerful punch to the abdomen that winded him quite badly as the officer then swiftly left the room.  
"Leave her alone!" Rita tried to protest but was also knocked out of the way by the officer, leaving Tommy to help her. As Eddie escorted the men out of the house Rita and Tommy tried in vain to stop them whilst upstairs Rose was still trying to rouse the Doctor as Peter stood doubled over, trying to regain his breath that had been knocked out of him. Eddie stopped Rita and Tommy from going past the front door as the officers bundled Tommy's gran into the black car.

"But she's my mother!" Rita tried to protest.  
"Back inside Rita!" Eddie ordered her. Upstairs in the bedroom the Doctor was still unconscious.

"Doctor! Doctor wake up!" Rose shouted as she tapped his cheek repeatedly, trying to wake him up.  
"We're gonna lost them!" Peter said as he finally recovered himself. "Keep trying to wake him, I'll follow them, call you if I find anything" He told her as he ran out of the room and down the stairs. Barging past Eddie as he left the house Peter saw the last of the officers climb into the car as they locked their doors. Racing down to where the Doctor's scooter and his Black Shadow were parked he threw his helmet on as he prepared to give chase.

In the upstairs bedroom Rose was still trying to rouse the Doctor when he suddenly came round.  
"Oh hell of a right hook! Have to watch out for that" He said as he shot up and ran out of the room as Rose followed him. Rushing past Eddie and a still protesting Rita and Tommy the Doctor just saw the car as it raced off down the street. A moment later he saw Peter on the Black Shadow roar past him, already in pursuit of the car.

"Rose come on!" The Doctor yelled as he raced over to his scooter. Rose had reached the hallway but stopped as she saw what was happening to the television. Red lines of electricity were growing out of it and wrapping themselves round the device. "Rose we're gonna lost them again!" The Doctor shouted as he climbed on his scooter and put his helmet on. But Rose was still looking at the television as the red electricity vanished. Slowly moving towards it she was unaware that the Doctor had set off without her, unable to wait any longer. Reaching the device and turning it around so that she could see the back Rose saw the red electricity retract back into one of the plugs whilst she also took notice that the television was one from Magpie's store.

"How'd they find her? Who told them?" Tommy asked as Rita and Eddie came back into the lounge.

"You! Get the hell out of my house!" Eddie shouted at Rose when he saw she was still there.

"I'm going I'm done" She said as she stood back up. "Nice meeting you Tommy, Mrs Connolly" She said before looking to Eddie. "And as for you Mr Connolly, only an idiot hangs a Union Flag upside down, shame on you" She told him before giving his a very broad grin as she quickly ducked under his arm that he was leaning against the wall on her quick exit from the house.

The black car skidded round the street's corner and towards the secretive entrance it had used before. This time, however, Peter arrived in time to see the whole operation take place. Reaching the open doors just as the two pretend market traders put their stalls in his way he decided to find another way in and took the small side street to his left which was only big enough for people and bikes and ran along the wall blocking him from where the car had gone through to. The Doctor arrived at the secret entrance a moment later and just saw the steel doors swing to a shut. Skidding to a halt he stared at the entrance ahead of him.

"Oh very good! Very good" He chuckled to himself.

After finding a spot of the wall that was lower that the rest of it Peter left his Black Shadow and helmet in the side street and, with a little run up, jumped up and caught the top of the wall with his hands before swinging himself up and over it.

The Doctor had also found a way in along the right hand side of the wall in the form of a locked steel barred gate. It didn't, however, stay locked for long as he quickly gained entry with the help of the Sonic Screwdriver.

Inside the disused warehouse that was on the other side of the wall, the two burly police officers were marching Tommy's gran into a caged area where they locked her in behind a mesh fence as the skinnier detective appeared to observe them. Both Peter and the Doctor were watching this from afar with Peter standing on the floor above and looking through a glassless window whilst the Doctor stood in the shadows a distance away from the mesh cage, though they remained unaware of each others presence. Decided to pursue different leads Peter followed the officers as they walked off whilst the Doctor headed for the cage. Looking in he saw a group of people stood in a mesh pen area beyond the first door. Using the Sonic to get in the Doctor carefully approached them as he reached the mesh pen and unlocked it's door before walking in among the people stood there. Taking out and turning on a small hand held torch from his suit pocket he saw that all the people stood around him, like Tommy's gran, did not have a face. They seemed to sense him as, as one, they all began moving towards him. Suddenly a bright light illuminated the whole area.

"Stay where you are" A gruff man's voice ordered as the Doctor turned around to face the glare of the light. It was coming from the black car's headlights from where it was parked in front of the mesh pen. In front of it stood the three detectives, the skinnier one having given the order.

The door of Magpie's store creaked as it opened as Rose stepped in.

"Oh I'm sorry miss I'm afraid your too late I was just about to lock the door" Magpie told her as she shut the door behind her.

"Yeah well I wanna buy a telly" She said.

"Come back tomorrow, please" He told her.

"You'll be closed won't you?" Rose asked him.  
"What?" Magpie asked.  
"For the big day? The coronation" She reminded him.

"Yes yes of course the big day, er, I'm sure you'll find somewhere to watch it" He told her as Rose walked over to the counter. "Please go" He asked her.

"Seems to me half of London's got a television since your practically giving them away" Rose suggested.

"I have my reasons" Magpie said.

"And what are they?" Rose asked just as one of the television screens to the side of her switched itself to the woman.

"Hungry! Hungry!" She said.

"What's that?" Rose asked Magpie.

"It's just the television, one of these modern programs" He quickly lied. "Now I really do think you should leave right now" He insisted as he walked over to the front door.

"Not until you've answered my question" Rose told him as she walked over to him a little. "How comes your televisions are so cheap?" She asked.

"It's my patriotic duty, seems only right that as many folk as possible get to watch the coronation, we may be losing the empire but we can still be proud! Twenty million people they reckon will be watching imagine that! And twenty million people can't be wrong hey? So why don't you get yourself back home and get up bright and early for the big day!" Magpie said, trying to be positive, as he opened the door for her.

"Na I'm not leaving until I've seen everything" Rose replied.

"I need to close" Magpie told her.

"Mr Magpie, somethings happening out there, ordinary people are being struck down and changed and the only new thing in the house is a television, your televisions, what's going on?" She asked him with a slight grin, knowing she was onto something. Magpie looked defeated.  
"I knew this would happen, I knew I'd be found out" He said after a moment before shutting the front door and locking it as Rose's smile faded.

"All right then just, just you and me, you gonna come clean then? What's really in it for you?" She asked him.

"For me? Perhaps some peace" He told her.

"From what?" Rose asked.

"From her" Magpie replied as he indicated the screen with the woman on it.

"But that's just a woman on the telly, that's just a program" Rose told him.

"What a pretty little girl" The woman told Rose.

"Oh my god are you talking to me?" Rose asked her in shock.

"Yes I'm talking to you little one" She replied. "Unseasonably chilly for the time of year don't you think?" She asked.

"What are you?" Rose asked.

"I'm the Wire and I'm hungry!" She said just before shots of electricity crackled out from the television and wrapped themselves around Rose's face.

"Mr Magpie help me!" Rose cried as her face was pulled towards the screen.

"Just think of the audience tomorrow my dear, all settling down to watch the coronation, twenty million people things will never be the same again, I'm sorry I'm so sorry" He told her quietly as Rose stood grunting in pain as her face continued to stretch to the screen.

"Goodnight children, everywhere" The Wire said as it feasted.


	4. Chapter 4

Marched into a small office by the three officers the Doctor found himself surprised when he spotted Peter sat in a chair, handcuffed by one hand to it's armrest.

"Fancy meeting you here" The Doctor said with a grin as Peter looked up and spotted him.

"You two working together then? I should have know" The skinner officer said sharply as he went to go and sit at a table that stood in front of where Peter was sat whilst the Doctor was sat on a chair next to him as the two burly officers went and stood behind the skinnier one.

"Well Rose has the domestic approach, I'm more of the sneaking in, espionage kinda guy" Peter told the Doctor before looking to the officers. "Ok your back now so can you please uncuff me? Promise I won't run" Peter asked the skinner officer as he jerked his handcuffed arm up. The man sighed and nodded to one of the burly officers who strode over to Peter and roughly unfastened the handcuffs and took them off before going back to where he'd been stood as he pocketed them.

"Found your little accomplice here listening in outside this office" The skinnier officer told the Doctor as he glared at Peter who gave a bored eye roll.

"They heard you?" The Doctor asked Peter in surprise.

"Turns out my stealth isn't immune to me getting cramp in my leg and kind of falling into some metal paneling where they can hear me" He replied, sounding slightly embarrassed as the Doctor grinned a little. "Decided to stay and see what they'd tell me, guessed it might have been you when we heard someone else sneaking about" Peter added.

"Find anything out?" The Doctor asked. The three police officers were now watching in bewilderment as the two men in front of them talked as if they were not under arrest.

"Na they keep badgering me with questions about why I'm here" Peter replied, making it sound like the officers had acted incompetently.

"Excuse me sonny but you've been caught red handed breaking and entering so we'll ask all the questions we want! Got it?" The skinnier officer told him.  
"Says the guy who's been kidnapping people from their own homes?" Peter quizzed. The officers seemed to lose some of their defense for a moment.

"Perhaps with you both here we can start from the beginning?" The skinny officer then asked. "Tell me everything you know" He ordered as he stood up and leaned forward against the table.

"Well, for starters, I know you can't wrap your hand around your own elbow and make your fingers meet" The Doctor told him as Peter fought to keep a laugh down.

"Don't get clever with me!" The officer warned, pointing a finger towards him. "You were both there today at Florizel Street and now breaking into this establishment, your both connected with this make no mistake" He told them.  
"Well the thing is, Detective Inspector Bishop," The Doctor said.

"How'd you know my name?" DI Bishop asked suspiciously.

"It's written inside you collar," The Doctor replied as DI Bishop fastened up his tie a little more to cover it. "Bless your mum" He added. "But I can't help thinking, Detective Inspector your not exactly doing much Detective Inspecting? Are you?" He asked.

"I'm doing everything in my power" DI Bishop replied.

"All your doing is grabbing those faceless people and hiding them as fast as you can" Peter told him.  
"Don't tell me?" The Doctor asked DI Bishop. "Orders from above? Coronation day the eyes of the world on London town so any sort of problem just gets swept out of sight" He guessed.

"The nation has an image to maintain" DI Bishop explained.

"But doesn't it drive you mad? Doing nothing? Don't you wanna get out there and investigate?" The Doctor asked him.

"Course I do but," DI Bishop began to sat as he sat down. "With all the crowds expected we haven't got the manpower, even if we did this is beyond anything we've ever seen, I just don't know any more" He admitted, looking defeated. "Twenty years on the force I don't even know where to start we haven't the faintest clue what's going on" He added as he folded his arms on the desk and lent forward.

"Well, that could change," The Doctor told him as he stood up and leaned on the desk.  
"How?" DI Bishop asked.

"Start from the beginning, tell us everything you know" The Doctor told him. Down below in the many part of the building another black police car had pulled up as two officer brought in another draped faceless person. Up in the office DI Bishop was showing the Doctor and Peter a map of where they'd found every faceless person.

"We started finding them about a month ago" He explained.

"Any sort of pattern?" Peter asked, looking at the map, whilst the Doctor looked through all the collected files of findings.

"Yeah spreading out from North London to all over the city, men women kids grannies, the only real lead is there's been quite a large number in..." DI Bishop began to say.  
"Florizel Street" The Doctor finished his sentence just as someone knocked at the door before entering the room.  
"Found another one sir" Another officer said as he led in the faceless person they'd just driven in.

"Oh er, good man Crabbetree, what do you think Doctor? Mr Argent? Take a good look" DI Bishop asked them as they all looked up at the draped person. But the Doctor and Peter had frozen in shock as they saw the bottom of the bright pink poodle skirt the covered girl was wearing. "See what you can deduce" DI Bishop added as Crabbetree lifted the covering off Rose.

"Rose" The Doctor said in shock as they walked up to her.  
"Oh god" Peter added, equally shaken at seeing her as she was.

"You know her?" Crabbetree asked them.

"Know her? She's..." The Doctor began to say but trailed off as he stood right in front of her featureless face.

"They found her in the street apparently" Crabbetree said to DI Bishop.  
"That's unusual, that's the first one out in the open" He replied. "If something happens in public tomorrow we'll have Torchwood on our backs no mistake" He added.

"They did what?" The Doctor asked in a dangerous tone, not taking his eyes off Rose.

"I'm sorry?" DI Bishop asked.

"Where did then leave her?" Peter asked, sounding just as furious.

"Just, in the street" DI Bishop replied.  
"In the street, they left her in the street, they took her face and just chucked her out and left her in the street, and as a result that makes things simple very very simple do you know why?" The Doctor asked him as he half turned around.

"No" DI Bishop replied.

"Because now Detective Inspector Bishop there is no power on this Earth that can stop me! Come on!" The Doctor shouted back as he raced out then room with Peter and DI Bishop close behind.

Leaving through the large doors of the concealed entrance they walking into the warm rays of the morning sun.

"The big day dawns" DI Bishop said as they paused for a moment before the Doctor led them back towards Florizel Street.

Tommy's house was full of extended family members who'd all come to watch the coronation. Rita had just gone into the hallway from the kitchen with a fresh tray of sandwiches she'd set out for her guests when Eddie came through the front door.

"You've had you fun with your little Doctor but now your left with me Rita" He whispered dangerously into her face as Rita froze in fear. "So you'll behave yourself and smile" He told her. Rita put on a best a smile she could before she and Eddie went into the living room. "Here we go every! Here we go grubs up! Tuck in!" Eddie called cheerily to the crowded room as Rita began serving the sandwiches. "Oh here we go it's starting! Take your places!" He added as the broadcast of the coronation began transmitting as everyone found places on the floor, sofa, chair, armrest or back of the room.  
"Just look at that telly box set hey? Isn't it marvelous? The pictures so clear" One of the elderly aunts of Tommy's said in awe.  
"Here Bet I says to Rita I says you didn't need to get your hair done special love, the Queen won't be able to see you" Eddie cruelly joked as Rita did her best to ignore it as she sat on the sofa's armrest next to Tommy.

"Where's you old mum then? She can't go missing it" Bet then asked Rita.

"Sorry er, mum can't make it down" She quickly lied.  
"Oh bless her maybe we can pop up and see her later" Beth suggested.

"Maybe you could," Tommy said. "It's a good idea, what'd you think dad? Maybe Auntie Bettie can go and see gran later?" Tommy asked his father whilst giving him a glare. Eddie shot him back a dangerous look but quickly recovered himself for his guests.  
"Oh he loves his gran this one, proper little mummy's boy all round" He chuckled.

"Oh you know what they say about them, Eddie you'll want to beat that out of him" Bet replied.  
"That's exactly what I'm gonna do" Eddie chuckled, shooting his son a glare just as the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it" Tommy said quietly as he stood up and headed for the front door.  
Opening the door he saw the Doctor, Peer and DI Bishop stood at the other side.

"Tommy talk to me we need to know exactly what happened inside your house" The Doctor told him seriously as Tommy stepped out. A moment later, however, Eddie had also come out.

"What the blazes do you think your doing!?" He hissed at Tommy.

"I wanna help dad" Tommy replied.

"Mr Connolly," Peter told him firmly, he nor the Doctor having no patience to deal with him now. Eddie stepped up right into his face.

"Shut you face you! I don't care how high of a rank you are! We can handle this ourselves!" He spat into his face. It took all of Peter's restraint not to lunge forward at the man as his jaw tensed tightly to hide his growing canine teeth whilst he clenched his hands into fists just in case his claws came out. His eyes was also beginning to glow silver but in the morning sunlight no one could see it as Eddie backed off away from him and turned back to Tommy. "Listen you! Little twerp! Your hardly out of the blooming cradle so I don't expect you to understand! But I've got a position to maintain! People round here respect me! It matters what people think!" He snarled right into his son's face.

"Is that why you did it dad?" Tommy asked quietly.

"What'd you mean? Did what?" Eddie asked but looked worried at the same time.

"You ratted on gran! How else would the police know where to look? Unless some coward told them!" Tommy accused/  
"How dare you! Do you think I fought a war just so a mouthy little scum like you could call me a coward!" Eddie shouted in his face.

"You don't get it do you? You fought against fascism remember? People telling you how to live, who you could be friends with, who you could fall in love with, who could live and who had to die, don't you get it? You were fighting so that little twerps like me could do what we want say what we want!" Tommy told him. "Now you've become just like them, you've been informing on everyone haven't you? Even gran? All to protect your precious reputation!" He added, sounding slightly tearful but defiant at the same time, just as Rita came to the door.

"Eddie is that true?" She asked her husband quietly.

"I did it for us Rita," Eddie defended himself. "She was filthy! A filth disgusting thing!" He spat.  
"She's my mother" Rita told him. "All the others you informed on all the people on our street, out friends?" She asked him, sounding horrified.

"I had too, I did the right thing" Eddie tried to reply as he looked around for some form of support from anyone.

"The right thing for us or for you Eddie?" Rita asked him before turning to Tommy.

"You go Tommy, go with the Doctor and Peter and do some good, get away from this house it's poison" She told him as she glared at Eddie. "We've had a ruddy monster under our roof aright but it weren't my mother!" She snapped at Eddie before slamming and locking the door shut in his face.

"Rita!" Eddie tried to call.

"Tommy come on" The Doctor said softly as held out his arm to him as Tommy stood next to his father for a moment as Eddie tried to get back into the house. After a moment Tommy left his father at the doorstep and walked off down the street with the Doctor, Peter and DI Bishop.

Inside the house Rita had composed herself enough to return to the lounge and her guests.

"What was all that then?" Bet asked her as she came in and sat next to her on the sofa.  
"That was, that was the sound of something ending, and about time too everyone all right? Smashing nothing's gonna spoil our big day is it?" Rita replied with a smile as they carried on with the party and watch the Queen as she left Buckingham Palace in the famous golden carriage.


	5. Chapter 5

Outside on the street some of the residents of Florizel Street were setting up long wooden tables and decorating them in preparation for a street party later on in the afternoon. The Doctor, Peter, DI Bishop and Tommy walked past them as they talked.

"Tommy tell us about that night? The night she changed?" The Doctor asked.

"She was just watching the telly" He replied as the Doctor looked up at all of the house's television aerials.  
"Rose said it, she guessed it straight away! Of course! All these aerials in one little street? How come?" He asked Tommy.

"Bloke up the road Mr Magpie he's selling them cheap" He replied. The Doctor and Peter looked at each other for a moment before running off towards the shop.  
"Is he now?" DI Bishop asked Tommy.

"Come on!" The Doctor shouted over his shoulder, causing them to run after them.

Reaching Magpie's store they found the blinds and curtains drawn the door filmy locked.

"I can't open it! There must be something off with the lock" The Doctor said as he tried and failed to open it with the Sonic.

"Stand back" Peter told him and the others as he lined himself up with the door before sharply kicking it in. The glass in the top of the door smashed as the door clattered open and bashed against the wall on the other side.  
"You can't do that!" DI Bishop told Peter as they all entered the shop. But his words went unheard as Peter and the Doctor looked around furiously for Magpie.

"Shop!" The Doctor yelled as he strode over to the counter and bashed the call bell. "If your here come out and talk to us!" He called. "Magpie!" He shouted when no response came.

"Maybe he's out?" Tommy suggested.

"Looks like it" The Doctor said before he went round to the other side of the counter and began rooting through the drawers of electrical components.  
"Oh hello? This isn't right" He said as he pulled out the portable television Magpie had built and showed the others. "This is very much not right" He added as he licked it. "Iron, Bakelite wouldn't you say?" He asked Peter as he held it out for him to smell.  
"Yeah definitely" Peter agreed as he smelt it before the Doctor placed it on the counter.  
"Built together with human hands yes but the design itself," He said as he began scanning it with the Sonic. "Oh beautiful work! That is so simple" He added as he found out what was inside it.  
"That's incredible! Like a television but portable!" DI Bishop said in awe as he and Tommy gawped at the device. The signal the Doctor was tracing with the Sonic, however, pointed him in the direction of the existing televisions stacked up against the wall.  
"It's not the only power source in this room" He said as they looked to the televisions just as they all turned on to each show a different person's face, all of them shouting but the sound being muted.

"Gran?" Tommy asked quietly as he spotted his gran's face on one of the screens.

"Doctor" Peter suddenly said quietly as he looked to one of the televisions. The Doctor followed his gaze and saw Rose's face on the screen. She was saying two words over and over again. Their names. The Doctor crouched in front of the screen whilst Peter stood just behind.  
"We're on our way" The Doctor told Rose's image quietly.  
"Someone's coming" Peter suddenly said as he heard approaching footsteps coming from the back of the store. A moment later Magpie emerged through the hanging bead doorway that led to his living quarters.  
"What do you think your doing?" He asked them accusingly. The Doctor stood up and marched right over to him.

"I want my friend restored and I think that's beyond a little back street electrician! So tell me! Who's really in charge here?" He snarled at him just as one of the screens changed to show the Wire.

"You ho I think that must be me" She said. "Oh this one's smart as paint" She added as the Doctor walked back over to her.  
"Is she talking to us?" DI Bishop asked Magpie.

"I'm sorry gentlemen I'm afraid you've brought this on yourselves, may I introduce you to my new, friend" Magpie replied.  
"Jolly nice to meet you" The Wire said.

"Oh my god! It's her that woman off the telly!" DI Bishop gasped as he recognised the familiar image.

"No that's just using her image" The Doctor told him.  
"What?" Tommy asked him in confused. "What are you?" He then asked the Wire.

"I'm the Wire and I will gobble you up pretty boy every last morsel and when I have feasted I shall regain the corporeal body which my fellow kind denied me" She replied as her image changed from black and white to colour.

"Good lord! Colour television!" DI Bishop gasped, staring at the Wire with wide eyes.

"So your own people tried to stop you?" The Doctor asked the Wire.

"The executed me but I escaped in this form and fled across the stars" She replied.  
"And your now your trapped in the television?" Peter asked as the Wire's image changed back to black and white.

"Not for much longer" She replied.

"Is this what got my gran?" Tommy asked

"Yes Tommy, it feeds off the electrical activity of the brain but it gorges itself like a great overhead pig! Taking people's face's, their essences as it stuffs itself!" The Doctor replied, glaring at the Wire as it smirked.

"And you let her do it Magpie" DI Bishop accused.

"I, I had to! She allowed me my face! She's promised to released me at the time of the manifestation" He defended himself from where he was stood against the back wall.

"What does that mean?" Peter asked.

"The appointed time, my crowning glory" The Wire told them all obviously.

"The coronation!" DI Bishop realised.

"For the first time in history millions gathered round the television sets" The Doctor said. "But your strong enough yet are you? You can't do it all from here that's why you need this" He added with a grin as he waved the portable television in front of her. "You need something more powerful, this'll turn a big transmitter in a big receiver" He added.  
"What a clever thing you are but you cannot stop me" The Wire told him.  
"Your trapped in that form though right? What if I were to just shoot the screen? What would you do then?" Peter challenged it as he pushed back his jacket and rested a hand on his gun that was hidden under it in his belt sheath.  
"The brave handsome soldier, would you really do that?" The Wire asked him.  
"Restore the affected people and I'll reconsider" He replied confidently. The Wire seemed to consider for a moment before she smiled.

"You must be careful you know, these old televisions do make such an awful racket especially for those with sensitive ears" She told him. Suddenly Peter doubled over and yelled in pain as he clutched his head, specifically around his ears.

"What are you doing!?" The Doctor shouted at the Wire as he rushed over to Peter and held him steady as he stumbled in his pain. The Wire merely smiled.

"That noise!" Peter yelled out as the Wire emitted an unbearably loud ringing noise at a frequency only his ears could pick up.

"I can't hear anything?" DI Bishop asked as he, Tommy and Magpie watched in puzzlement and fear.

"Stop it! Stop it now! Just let him go!" The Doctor shouted at the Wire as he struggled to keep Peter on his feet, worried about how much more he could take. The Wire shrugged as Peter suddenly stopped yelling and stood wincing and clutching his head for a moment before he passed out and had to be gently lowered to the floor by the Doctor.

"But why shouldn't you all be relaxing?" The Wire asked them as the Doctor stood back up and glared dangerously at her. "Kick off your shoes and enjoy the coronation believe me you'll be glued to the screen" She told them before shooting out bolts of electricity that wrapped around the Doctor's, Tommy's and DI Bishop's faces and began pulling them towards the screen. "Hungry! Hungry! The Wire is hungry!" She said as she fed off them. "Oh this one is tasty! Oh I'll have lashings of him! Delicious!" She added as she felt the Doctor's brain activity. But the Doctor was slowly pulling out the Sonic Screwdriver from his suit pocket. "Armed! He's armed and clever! Withdraw withdraw!" The Wire quickly said as she saw it before retracting the bolts of electricity. The Doctor, Tommy and DI Bishop all collapsed unconsciously to the floor, lying close to Peter who was still passed out from the blast high pitched sound he'd been hit with. "The box Magpie! The box!" The Wire ordered. Magpie ran over and took the portable television from besides the Doctor, the wire only having has time to take DI Bishop's face. "Hold tight!" The Wire told him as Magpie held it in front of her. The Wire then transported herself over to the device in the form of a red electrical bolt before appearing on the smaller screen. "Conduct me to my victory Magpie" She ordered him.

Leaving the shop and shutting the door behind him Magpie carried the Wire via the device on long leather strap as he ran over to his van. "Hungry! Hungry! Feed me!" She ordered him as he placed her on the dashboard on front of him and raced off down the street.

In the Connolly's house Rita and all her guests were watching as the Queen progressed through the city in the golden carriage.  
"She's so lovely" Bet said.  
"Beautiful, makes you forget all your troubles, everyone all right for pop?" Rita asked cheerfully.

In Magpie's store the Doctor shot up as he came to, noticing DI Bishop's state and Tommy and Peter lying unaffected but unconsciously on the floor.

"Tommy? Peter? Come on wake up!" He called. "Tommy!" He shouted as he saw him stir before he slowly sat up.

"What happened?" He asked groggily as the Doctor went over to Peter.

"Peter!? Come on buddy I need you on this one!" He called as he shook his shoulder before lifting up his eyelid to check he wasn't in any worse state than he looked. "Tommy have you got anything that smells? Anything with a strong scent?" He then quickly asked. Tommy rummaged through his trouser pockets for a moment before pulling out a small bottle of Vitalis hair oil.  
"Here try this" He said as he handed it over. Unscrewing the bottle the Doctor held it under Peter's nose the briefest of moments before Peter snapped away and shot up, gagging on the smell.

"What the hell is that!" He yelled out, the smell of the oil being overwhelmingly strong to him.

"Alarm clock," The Doctor joked as he put the lid back on the Vitalis and chucked it back over to Tommy before helping Peter to his feet. "Now where's Magpie?" The Doctor asked as he raced outside, Peter and Tommy following him.

"We don't even know where to start looking, it's too late" Tommy said as they stood in front of the store.

"It's never too late as a wise person once said, Kylie I think" The Doctor said. "The Wire's got big plans it'll need, oh yes yes yes!" He then said as he realised something. "It's got to harvest half the population, millions and millions of people and, where are we?" He asked Tommy.

"Muswell hill" He replied.

"Muswell hill? Muswell hill! Which means! Alexandra Palace! Biggest TV transmitter in North London oh! That's why it chose this place" The Doctor said excitedly as he pointed out the large station atop a nearby hill. "Come on!" He then shouted to Peter and Tommy as he headed back inside the store.  
"What are you doing?" Peter asked him, thinking they were going to chase Magpie down now that they knew where he was.

"I'm going shopping" The Doctor replied before Peter and Tommy followed him back in.


	6. Chapter 6

Magpie's van tore through the deserted streets on it's way to Alexandra Palace, everyone else inside houses watching the coronation on their new televisions, as the Wire laughed gleefully.

Rummaging through the piles of electrical parts the Doctor had already piled up a load of objects on the counter as Peter and Tommy helped him find what he needed.

"This what you want?" Peter asked him as he held up a small blue bulb like object. The Doctor raced over and examined it closely for a moment.

"Perfect! He cried. "Right I need one more thing" He then said as he picked up the pile of parts from the counter and loaded them into Peter's arms before leading them out of the store.

Taking the to where the Tardis was parked he quickly popped in before emerging a few moments later with a long yellow cord around his neck. "Got it! Lets go!" He said as he set them off running again.

Magpie pulled up the the back lot of Alexandra Palace where a few people were working as they were setting up and organising broadcasting equipment such as lighting stands. He climbed out of his van, taking the Wire on the device with him, before sneaking past a security guard on his way up the flights of steel stairs that led up to the broadcasting tower. He soon began climbing the tower itself.

"I can't do this! Please, please don't make me!" He yelled to the Wire over the strong winds as he stopped halfway up and picked up the device with his free arm.

"The time is at hand! Feed me! Feed me! Feed me!" She ordered him. Magpie sobbed a little as the Wire burnt into his head before he reluctantly started climbing again.

The Doctor, Peter and Tommy had also arrived at Alexandra Palace with the pile of parts the Doctor had fused and fitting together as Peter had held them as they'd run.

"There!" Tommy yelled as he spotted and pointed to Magpie on the tower.  
"Come on" The Doctor told them as they ran toward the security guard, who was dressed in his formal uniform for the special day.

"Wait wait wait where do we think we're, ah..." He began to say but stopped as the Doctor flashed him the physic paper as they ran past. "Very sorry sir, shouldn't you be at the coronation?" The security then asked the Doctor.

"They're saving me a seat!" He shouted over his shoulder as the vanished round the corner.

"Who'd you tell them you were?" Peter asked.  
"King of Belgium apparently" The Doctor replied as he glanced at the physic paper himself.

Running inside the building to a large broadcasting station the Doctor had loaded the now box of parts into the wiring. "Keep this switched on, don't let anyone stop you, everything depends on it!" He told Peter and Tommy as he grabbed a roll of copper wiring with a strap attached to it before hooking it up to the panel and running out of the room, letting the wire trail out behind him.

Running out of the building and towards the tower he raced past the security guard on his way to the steel staircase.

"You'll get yourself killed up there! Your Majesty!" The guard shouted at the Doctor raced up to the tower, the wiring trailing out behind him.

Climbing up the tower after Magpie the Doctor had quite a large gap to close up if he wanted to stop the Wire reaching the top of the tower. But as Magpie reached it at started hooking the device up to the tower the Wire started crackling with red electricity that shot out of the device and out across London via the tower.

Like in every other home in North London with a television the Connolly household started having their faces taken by the Wire.

"Oh feast! Feasting! The Wire is feasting!" The Wire gasped as she felt the millions of brain's energy course through her.

"It's too late! It's too late for all of us!" Magpie cried as he clung onto the tower just as the Doctor reached them.  
"I shall consume you Doctor" The Wore told him as she shocked him with red electrical bolt. The Doctor very nearly fell as his feet slipped off, only his hands keeping him on.  
"I won't let you do this Magpie!" He shouted.

"Help me Doctor! It burns! It took me face my soul!" Magpie cried.

"You cannot stop the Wire, soon I shall become manifest" The Wire said with a grin as she tried to electrocute the Doctor, who cried in pain for a moment before the energy stopped running through him.

"No! No more of this! You promised me peace!" Magpie told the Wire.

"Then peace you shall have" She replied before incinerating him with a bolt of red electricity, leaving her in the device perched on the tower as the Doctor leaned over for her but got a quick shock as the electricity course through her.

"Been burning the candle at both end? You've overextended yourself misses you shouldn't have had a crack at poor old Magpie there" He told her as he manged to pick up the device. The wire tried to incinerate him too but the electricity couldn't get through to the tower as it passed through him.

"Rubber soles! Swear by them!" He told her as he plugged the copper wiring into the device.

Down in the broadcasting room the box of parts emitted a show of sparks, causing Peter and Tommy to jump away from it slightly as the power turned off.

"Oh dear has a little plan gone horribly Doctor?" The Wire asked the Doctor as nothing happened to her. But down below in the broadcasting room, as screens showed the coronation taking place where the Queen was being readied to be crowned, Peter and Tommy were battling to get the power back on. Finding the correct bulb part from the pile Tommy raced it over to Peter rushed to switch it over with the broken one as Tommy then inserted one of the vital plugs. The Wire's electrical bolts retracted, leaving all of North London's television viewers including the Connolly's household unharmed and unknowing of what had just happened.  
"No!" The Wire screamed as she lost her power hold whilst Peter and Tommy watched with smiles as he her remaining power was sucked in by the Doctor's machine.

"It's close time I'm afraid and no epilogue" The Doctor told the Wire as she gave one final scream before being silenced as the screen went blank.

In the police officer's secret base Crabbetree came running up to the mesh pen area where he found to his astonishment all of the people there were back to normal, their faces restored with little memory and a lot of confusion about why they were there.

Peter and Tommy were stood waiting nervously as they watched coronation.

"What have I missed?" The Doctor asked as he appeared at the doorway.  
"Doctor? What happened?" Tommy asked, jumping slightly in shock as he and Peter turned around.

"Sorted, electrical creature, TV technology," He replied as he walked over to them "Another alien life form, that's us by the way" He added with a smile as he indicated himself and Peter with a smile. "I turned the receiver back into transmitter" He explained.  
"And the Wire?" Peter asked.

"Trapped it in here" The Doctor replied as he popped open a lid on the box of parts to reveal a betamax cassette tape which he pulled out. "I just invented the home video thirty years early" He said as Peter laughed. "Betamax" The Doctor then quickly explained to Tommy, who was staring in bewilderment at the tape, before pocketing it. "Oh look! God save the Queen hey?" The Doctor cheered as they then looked to the screen which was showing the Queen and the royal family waving from the balcony at Buckingham Palace.

Back at the police's secret base the now faced people were spilling out of the building just as the Doctor, Peter and Tommy arrived. Seeing his gran Tommy immediately ran over to her were they finally reunited. The Doctor and Peter also saw a familiar face as Rose looked up and smiled broadly at them as she saw them. Running over to her the Doctor was the first to reach her as he gave her a huge hug and spun her around a little before letting her go as Peter gave her his own long awaited hug.

Hugs were not something being shared in the Connolly's house as, now with her guests gone, Rita had allowed Eddie back in but only so she could had him his packed suitcase.  
"This was never your house, it's in my mother's name and on her behalf I'm telling you out" She ordered as she set the suitcase down in front of him. Eddie looked at her for a moment before silently picking it up and leaving. Outside on the street the party was in full swing.

"We could go down the Mall? Join in with the crowds?" Rose suggested as she, the Doctor and Peter walked through the party.

"Na that's just pomp and circumstance, this is history right here" The Doctor said with a grin as he helped himself to a slice of cake.

"The domestic approach?" Rose guessed.

"Exactly" The Doctor said.

"Is er, the Wire trapped for good then? On the video?" Peter then asked.

"Hope so, just to be on the safe side though I'll use my unrivalled knowledge of transtemporalextopation methods to neutralise the residual electronic pattern" The Doctor replied.

"You'll what?" Rose asked, her and Peter looked confused.  
"I'm gonna tape over it" The Doctor quickly explained.

"Just leave it to me I'm always doing that" Rose chuckled just as they reached Tommy, who was stood enjoying the party.

"Tell you what Tommy you can have the scooter, little present, best er, keeping it in the garage for a few years though hey" The Doctor told him.

"That reminds me I've got to go and rescue the Black Shadow before we go, not leaving that behind" Peter insisted. "You'll have be careful I don't sneak it home" He added jokingly to the Doctor.

"There's no vehicles on Vegeta though?" Rose reminded him.  
"Or petrol" The Doctor added.

"Yeah, well, I can still stand and admire it" Peter said with a shrug, causing the Doctor and Rose to laugh.

"Maybe I can covert it to solar power for you" The Doctor offered as they all then noticed Tommy was staring in his house's direction where his gran and mother were reuniting but his father was leaving the house with his hat and coat on as he carried his suitcase out.

"Good riddance" Tommy said as he saw he leaving.

"Is that it then Tommy? New monarch new age new world? No room for a man like Eddie Connolly?" The Doctor asked him.

"That's right, he deserves it" Tommy replied.

"Tommy go after him" Peter told his softly.

"What for?" Tommy asked.

"He's your dad" Peter told him.  
"He's an idiot" Tommy replied.

"Course he is, aren't most?" Rose said. "But your clever, clever enough to save the world so don't stop there" She added.

"Besides I didn't get to see mine for sixteen years and that wasn't by choice either" Peter added. "Go on, you never know when you might need each other" He encouraged with a smile and pat on the shoulder. Tommy gave them all a last smile before running off after his dad, catching up with him down the street. The Doctor, Rose and Peter then watched them begin to talk as Eddie allowed Tommy to carry his suitcase for him when he offered to before the Doctor picked up glasses of orange juice and handed one to each of his companions and took one for himself as they then toasted to each other before going on to enjoy the party.


End file.
